Man who drove with bogus licence avoids jail

Dundee Sheriff Court

Published:12:58Tuesday 25 April 2017

A man who drove the roads of Scotland having never passed a driving test - then tried to pass off a bogus Latvian licence as real when he was handed a speeding fine - today (Tuesday) dodged a jail term.

Ivo Sokolovics sent in the forged Latvian driving licence to a court after being handed a £100 fine and three penalty points for a speeding offence on the A90 between Aberdeen and Dundee.

The factory worker tried to pass the licence off as real - but a clerk at Glasgow Sheriff Court, which processes fines from across Scotland, noted a discrepancy.

A photocopy of the card was sent to DVLA where a document examiner realised it was phony.

Sokolovics was then pulled over in Forfar in November - and again tried to pass off the fake licence as real to police.

When he was interviewed by police he admitted he had never passed a driving test either in the UK or his native Latvia.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court: “He complied with the fixed penalty notice and sent a cheque and what purported to be a Latvian driving licence to Glasgow Sheriff Court.

“When it was examined at DVLA it was revealed it was fraudulent giving him no entitlement to drive as he was a non-UK driving licence holder.

“Local enquiries were made and he was stopped on November 24 2015.

“He was told the reason for being stopped and thereafter produced the same fraudulent driving licence.

“The accused then appeared voluntarily at Forfar Police Office for interview.

“He admitted he had never passed a driving test either in the UK or Latvia.

“He admitted the licence he produced was fake and that he had obtained it in Latvia.

“Police officers indicated to him that the licence number relates to a person called Janis Daugulis and the accused indicated he did not know who that was.”

Sokolovics, 29, of Taranty Road, Forfar, pleaded guilty on indictment to two charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and one under the Identity Documents Act 2010, all committed between February 21 and November 24 2015.